After obtaining, in 1990, a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from The University of Aberdeen, I got in 1991, my Master’s degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) which has now merged with the University of Manchester. I started my career as a civil engineer in TEAM MAROC, a Moroccan Engineering Consultant Office. It was a good opportunity for me to learn and gain experience. At that time Morocco started its ambitious Highway and Road infrastructure programme. Human and technical resources were scarce and funding was quite a problem, as international funders were sceptical about the programme. So, it was a good challenge and the adequate environment to gain skills, to learn and defy the lack of resources, I had the opportunity to meet wonderful people from whom I learnt a lot through discussions and even by challenging each other. In a couple of years, I managed to design some of the biggest bridges in Morocco. When I was 26 or 27, I designed the longest bridge in Morocco at that time, I managed to do all the calculations by using a software I developed in BASIC. Since then, I became one of the famous bridge engineers in Morocco, it is an achievement that I owe to my colleagues at work who trusted me, to my boss at that time who believed in me and gave me his full support, to my wife who through her sincere feelings made me have the will to succeed, to my late parents who have done everything for me to succeed in life and who have taught me to respect people, effort and knowledge, to my brothers who have always supported me and to the circumstances which allowed young people to excel. In 2000, I set up TAPEC, my own engineering consultant office, it was quite a good and challenging experience, my first office was a small room in my parents’ house, the only staff working with me was a secretary and a technician. Thank God, I had a good professional background and ended up working on important projects in Morocco, North Africa, the Gulf, Central America and Central Asia. But the one of the main reasons of my success was the great young team of engineers, technicians and office staff who worked with me. Most of them were newly graduates where TAPEC was their first experience, I trusted their capacities, potential and intellect. TAPEC was not only an engineering design office but an engineering school which taught and trained young people how to deal, solve and defy problems. As one of my colleagues said: “whenever we have a problem, you never give us a straight answer, but you show us how to solve the problem on our own”. Starting a new business is never easy, especially when you are living in exile with a political background, if it was not for my wife and two sons, I would have never been able to achieve anything, it is through their love, patience, understanding and sacrifices that I managed to continue until this day.
Most people would ask how did I end up in Libya Research Centre for Strategic and Future Studies? All my engineering experience was in third world countries and the longest part of it was in a country that was undergoing major political, economic and social changes. After long and severe battles and confrontations between the regime and the opposition, both became exhausted and figured out that a dialogue is needed to reach a consensus. As a consequence, both sides agreed that the immediate result would be vast development schemes. Being a foreigner, I didn’t take part in the political process, but as an engineer, I was part of the teams that had carte blanche to design and implement the road infrastructure development scheme. It was quite an interesting, challenging and enjoyable experience. It gave me the opportunity to know, from another angle, the country I was residing in, to discuss with all levels of society development schemes, listen to people, understand their needs, their hopes and their priorities. This allowed me to appreciate the importance and value of the voice of the people no matter who they were. Once, I understood the needs of the people, it was possible for me as an engineer, to have a realistic approach to the project and manage how to make the technical standards and specification serve the needs of the community, and also to provide the local and national politicians solutions that respect the requirements of their communities and fulfils the national development policy. At certain times, as an Engineer, I was able to show them with solid arguments that they might be making the wrong decision and would have to think of a specific better solution based on certain points and factors. My modest experience helped me understand that for any policy to succeed, it should go bottom up and can only be built by allowing competent experts to think freely, express openly their ideas and arguments. But it also made me understand, that any policy needs a good and strong leader, his strength comes from bright ideas and vision which he puts to discussion at all levels of society and allows experts to transform into realistic projects that can be easily implemented. A strong and constructive Human Being should be able to listen, trust, learn, be patient and love. This is exactly what we are trying to do at the Libya Research Centre for Strategic and Future Studies.